I turned 18 a few months ago and ever since than it's caused me to have a quarter life crisis, my youthful innocent looks are starting to fade away and I'm looking more and more "grown" which is why I shave my facial hair to look younger, I graduated school last year and now I realize there's certain things I can't do anymore, no more riding the bus in the morning with it being dark and cold on the inside and looking at the dawn sky, no more fucking around with friends in class, no more field trips, fuck I'm even too old for traditional summer camps, I'm "too old" for fun now, at 18 and up you're just expected to work a boring 9-5 for the rest of your life and be miserable like everybody else in the capitalist society, I see why ages 0-17 is considered the free trial of life, does getting older really have to this sad and depressing?

I just posted a question on the Ask UK sub where some one commented that i sounded American. I'm a black American woman, not a white male as many seem to assume for some reason. Contemplating the thing, I was struck by how having a differently-oriented brain--whatever the cause--puts you in a kind of mental no-man's land. You learn based on your interests and capabilities, not on what's socially popular or acceptable to the group you're traditionally associated with. It just reiterates how racism is a socially-constructed fallacy having much more to do with fear and fate than anything else. It will always serve predators and those keen on ducking their status as prey so is doubtless here to stay. I just think it's fascinating how change according to new information tends to happen less in these arenas, despite how evolved most people believe we are.

The main problem with our species is that we delude ourselves into thinking we're not animals/apes and that we're separate from nature simply because of our unusual evolutionary adaptation when we are literally not, from a behavioral perspective we're no different from chimpanzees seeing as we're so quick to resort to violence and conflict over disagreements or resources, gang members shooting their enemy gang and countries having wars is literally part of being an ape as we also seen chimps go to war, just because we're a little bit cognitively more intelligent than the rest doesn't stop our animal instincts, it just slows them down, but under the right circumstances we will revert back to animal and lose civility, society is really just us pretending to be something that we're not meant to be, what caused us to become so disconnected and detached from our own nature?

What does happiness look like to you? How do you weigh what makes you happy vs what doesn’t? When is the last time you’ve felt true happiness? And whats one thing that would make you the happiest right now?

I understand that this technically falls under cruel and unusual punishment, but what if we had a system in place.

For context, I’m no animal rights activist or a vegan, but I feel terrible for the animals being exploited for our benefit. Maybe, you may point out rats are so tiny and insignificant, but I don’t agree. Sure they are small, but they are capable of emotions, but just seeing them trapped in a small cage running around, while they are in pain is plain cruel. It doesn’t stop at rats, they also test on monkeys, rabbits, etc. I mean I would rather a grpist, who grped and murdered somebody to be tested on than a monkey.

Here’s the system I propose:

We enact legislation that allows inmates to choose if they would give consent to partake in an experiment for lower jail time.

We would have a caliber system in place depending on death risk and level of pain and suffering.

The process will done on a case-by-case basis.

Calibers:

1- General Low Death risk/Suffering risk (less years off ex: 1-3)

2 General Medium Death risk/Suffering risk (less years off ex: 5-15 )

3 General Medium Death risk/Suffering risk (less years off ex: 15 -> Freedom )

Caveats:

-Will take a bit of time to get approved

-Prisoners will be barred from partaking in experiments depending on the severity of the crime.

For example,

To even qualify to partake in the higher caliber experiments you have to commit a crime on the following :

Child abuse Animal cruelty Murder Sexual assault/gr*pe Human trafficking Pedophilia/child cornography Serial killing

Otherwise you will absolutely be barred from caliber 3 and certain experiments in caliber 2.

Experiments will not last longer than 2 years.

Would this be a bad idea and I am missing something?

Would this cause for cruel and unusual punishment? Cuz they get to choose whether or not to partake in the experiment

Admittingly, it’s be quite difficult to make legislation, people may just go through loopholes

The popularity, reach, effectiveness, and impact of religion has been heavily studied over time. Regardless of the trend of declining membership, religion and religious institutions are still heavy hitters in today’s society. The amount of “indoctrination” and the reach that it has is still astounding.

But what if we took all the positive aspects of religious membership, and used it for something that is actually beneficial in bringing about meaningful social change WITHOUT the destructive dogma of most religions? What if we took all of that reach and solid presence to bring people together in making equality and equity a reality?

Here are some aspects of their “model” that could be transferable (not exhaustive or in order of importance):

1. Existence of a compelling message that is actually applicable to today’s social woes and with goals of equity and equality
2. Active engagement in outreach
3. Heavy active engagement in education in the message
4. Heavy active engagement in spreading of the message
5. Tailoring of the relevant aspects of the message to the target audience
6. Fostering a sense of belonging, community
7. Adapting to the changing needs of members (while staying within the teachings of the message)
8. Frequent, consistent, and habitual engagement
9. Fundraising for causes that further the message, as well as causes that are in line with the message.
10. Fostering a sense of meaning and purpose in life
11. Providing actionable guidelines on how to achieve the goals of the message
12. Providing comfort and support for coping with the dire realities of life outside the message
13. Reinforcing belief in a higher power or something larger than the individual (in this case, it’d be about strength in numbers vs a God)

So what if?

Why is this a thing?? I am just curious why this phenomenon happens. For reference, for me, that would be Tegan and Sara. A bit odd for a straight guy, but then again, I grew up in the 2000's, which does fit appropriately given that was when they were in their prime. This phenomenon could also apply any other musician, whether it is Taylor Swift, John Lennon, Eminem, Jimin from BTS, Chappell Roan(no pun intended), Kayne West(people liked his music in his prime), or a darker note, Burzum(a Nazi metal band).

I’ve had this idea in my head for a long while on the ethics of interspecies relationships in fiction and hypothetically in reality. Most of what I have concluded is with the aid of a Harkness test with specific aliens, robots, mystical creatures, etc. but theirs still some areas that I still am not sure on. For instance, characters like Scooby doo, Aslan, or other talking animals I’ve questioned on, as of now I say that if the character is an existing animal that can’t communicate in anyway usually then that means you can’t be in a relationship with it, that is a flawed idea but i feel that pushes it into dangerous territory if accepted unlike creatures like werewolves and zombies where depending on what type it is it can be acceptable or not along with fantasy creatures like Argonians being completely okay. I would like to discuss a conclusion to this point so it’s out of my head and we have a set in stone idea of what’s okay and what isn’t when it comes to interspecies relationships.

So, this is something that I am personally dealing with but it got me thinking in general about whether kids that are old enough to understand medical issues should be told, or if they should have an option to not know unless the request to, assuming the problem is not life threatening.

In my case, it involves a rare genetic disorder that despite being rare, does not cause a shorter life, is not terminal and does not cause anything disastrous. It does affect mobility and causes issues, but not anything devastating. So I am debating whether or not I should leave it up to my son to decide if he wants to know about it.

The reason for getting a diagnosis is because I do need to make health decisions based around it. Regardless if my child chooses to know, he cannot play high contact sports as an example, needs to get screened cardiac wise if positive, and may or may not need growth hormone shots and I have to be aware of spontaneous fractures and osteopenia.

He is 10 and he’s smart. But the question is, where do kids get to decide for the themselves what to do? For example, there are cases where a child around the same age, who is terminal, decides not to do any further intervention, and the family supports it. Then there are court cases where the parents decide not to do anything but the child is suffering medically, and courts force an intervention. Teri Schiavo for example, is a well known court case where the family legally fought to decide whether or not she should have had life prolonging measures withdrawn.

Why do they, especially in the context of their version of metal music, seem to like using a bastardized version of Norse Mythology?? One fringe Norwegian political party is just a bunch of Nazis who worship a version of Odin who wants to get rid of the Jews.

One of FNAF series' games is said to be William Afton's, the antagonist's, personal hell. What period/esperience in your life would you call your personal hell?

Assalaam u Alaikum, I feel like I lust for every girl I saw, online or offline. I feel that I should not have a life of regret. I fear about being left out. I feel sad when I came to know that my friends are gathering and I am not. I feel overwhelmed about the time passing so quickly. I wanna be alone but also, I don't. I am not having self control. I am always having feeling that I am wasting my time. I crave attention even though I get more than usual. I wanna be beautiful, cool, attractive and charismatic guy. I don't wanna live so long but I wanna live life to its full so that I am remembered. I overthink and want to gain sympathy always. I can't handle if a guy talks to me rudely or if my parents ask me too much. I don't wanna hurt someone but want to live my life. I am confused over decisions. I want this life to end quickly but it continues. I feel like I am not a good person. I wanna be loving kind figure for all but I wanna escape this world

Assalaam u Alaikum, I thought that love exists. But as I grow older, though I am still a teen, I am thinking that there is no such thing as love. It's either lust or respect or friendship but no such thing as love

It’s often you see folks advising individuals to leave partners in need of caregiving.
“You need a partner, and you don’t want to be stuck as caregiver all your life” or “They’ll never be an equal and the burden will be on you”, are some of the rationale given. So, are the folks needing caregiving bound to go through life unloved?

Recent decades have brought a lot of progress in computers and electronics. Various devices have improved a lot, and new types of devices were created. People kept upgrading various devices. But despite the improvements, people don't seem to have gotten happier. Why is this happening?

One example is smartphones. Many people kept upgrading their smartphones. I expect people usually felt good about the upgrade itself. But the increase in smartphone capabilities did not lead to any lasting increase in happiness.

Computer games are another example. There is a huge amount of old games that can be played on old hardware. Many games can be played in a web browser at archive.org. Yet, many people want the latest games and the latest hardware. I don't see any signs that people feel happier when playing modern games than old games, even considering old games from the 80s, like MS-DOS and SNES games. Though, some new games may be more addictive.

What about TV resolution improvements? Do people enjoy movies more on Blu-ray than on DVD? What about 1080p vs 4k vs 8k? The quality improvements are real, but I don't see them having a lasting impact on enjoyment of movies.

What about automation that removes the need for doing things manually? Recently, autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners became available. Can studies find that people who use one of those are happier than people who need to vacuum manually?

I'm sure there are people who want the latest gadgets but cannot afford them and feel bad about that. If one gave them a gadget they crave, they would probably feel better temporarily. But this does not mean that getting the latest gadgets creates any lasting increase of happiness.

Some old devices can become useless because technology moved on. An old smartphone may not be able to run current apps, and may be too slow for many web sites. It can even be incompatible with currently used radio communication. You probably can't buy new movies on VHS tapes. Though, this is also a different issue, relating to compatibility, and not directly to improved gadgets increasing happiness.

I suppose there have been huge political events in every part of the world, at every point in time.

But darn, does it not feel like we are going through quite a cosmic geopolitical shift right now!

Not a day goes by without the usual suspects (That don't need to be named) are on the front page, after some controversial thing they've said. They command an incredible amount of nationwide attention span, so i want to ask for some opinions on how to best handle them, both as individuals and as collectives.

The most common strategy i see is to bring to attention the controversial things they say, perhaps as an effort to refute and push back against what they say.

Some people say that we should not give them a podium to their words, because their influence comes from how much attention they can command. Many people have made their fortune by starting as relatively unknown social media influencers, then saying or doing controversial things until they become popular.

I personally believe attention is a precious commodity, but clearly ignoring a problem also doesn't sound like a good idea, so i'm unsure what would be most beneficial.

ETA: Should there be?

For me it’s - am I spending my time on what truly matters?

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind, pursuing goals or routines that might not hold real value in the long run. Future-me would (hopefully) have the clarity to say whether the things I’m focusing on now—relationships, career, passions—are worth it or if I’m overlooking something more important.

What about you? What would you ask your future self?

Me, male (40) recently divorced and one daughter (2years old)... I got to know a beautiful blonde (30 years old, 2 years divorced, and 7 years old daughter)...

...as the title says... Is it wrong for me to have this intrigue to know her ex husband side of the story as in why they end it up? .... The lady has told me her side and basically he was a douchebag to the point she ended up losing all interest for him, she didn't like him anymore and she started to feel disgust being touched by this guy... She couldn't handle it anymore and asked him divorce, they divorced in good terms and are rasing up the daughter taking turns as in couple days one, and other days with the other....

...I want to do this because she seems to be serious and committed to keep up with this, our new relationship... We have been seeing each other for about more than 6 months now. And right now everything is all flames and passion... But something tingles me about knowing his side (the ex) of the story....

I feel she wound not like the idea of me meeting her ex...

I don't want to do it in secret, obviously.

... Am I wrong to have this intrigue?....

...ps. before anybody question me, I would absolutely NOT mind if she would wish to talk to my ex wife to know her side of the story ....

I dont want any hate. I'm just a high school student who would like some insight for a discussion in my class.

With the rise of social media and the internet, many local cultures and practices are slowly dying, as most people try to keep up with recent trends. Like it or not, we're now living in a more globalised world. Do you believe that there will come a point when everyone will unite under a single culture? Thoughts?

There are two different opinions in my house.

"Can you choose to make a mistake?"

One person is saying no, you cannot choose to make a mistake because a mistake is not a mistake if it's your intended outcome. Choosing means you know your intended outcome will happen which means it's not a mistake. It's not a question of morality but a question of an expected outcome.

The other person is simply saying you can choose to make a mistake and stands by it because a mistake is an action not an outcome.

Is this contradicting or can you choose? Is it a mistake if you intended to do it?